


Trusting in Your Words

by Lazchan



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 21:54:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6676777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazchan/pseuds/Lazchan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yona and Yun have a quiet talk</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trusting in Your Words

"Do you think that anyone would have followed me as easily if they had known me when I lived in the palace?" Yona asked idly, staring up at ceiling of the tent she shared with Yun.

 

Yun frowned at that, wondering where _this_ had come from. "I followed you," he said reasonably, "and I didn't even like the king or princesses or anything like that. I hope my opinion counts for something." He eyed her, his tone just a touch grumpy, but overall, he was more concerned than anything.

 

Her smile was bright and warm as she turned it on him. "Of course it does, Yun!" Her eyes were wide with dismay at the idea that she had discounted his opinions in any way, but her expression slid into something more rueful, a little sad. "You're probably the only one that really had a choice. Even though Ik-su asked you, you could have stayed with him, but instead you chose to go with me and Hak."

 

"You two would have been hopeless on your own," Yun scoffed. "What brought this up, Yona?" he sat up a little and tried to examine her expression more closely. "Those idiot beasts all love you; you can't deny it."

 

"I—I know they do." She traced patterns along the blanket and bit her lip. "I love all of them and you and Hak—" she reached out and squeezed Yun's hand. "I don't know what I'd do without any of you; you're my family and more than that."

 

Yun was blushing now; he didn't need to hear such things and he tried to protest, but Yona was still talking, hand squeezing a little tighter as her voice rose with nervousness. "But would they have followed me if it wasn’t for the bond that Hiryuu shared with the dragons?" She hardly ever brought up Hiryuu; Yun could only think of a few and it was all in denial that she was the master of the rare beasts. "I had asked them to come to my side and it was all for such selfish reasons. Would they have done that if I had just been me?"

 

Yun made a face. "That I don't know," he said honestly. He always tried to be honest. Dancing around a subject was pointless. It was best to get straight to it so that there were no misunderstandings. "Ik-su was certain that they'd follow you, because you were trying to help the kingdom—but that idiot priest probably knew who you were from the start and never said anything."

 

"I'm glad he didn't," Yona said frankly. "I… I still find it hard to believe and I don't want that to be the only reason they're by my side or that they have to be by my side."

 

"That's not the reason at all," Yun said, keeping his stubborn attitude up until she believed him. "Look at Jae-ha; he didn't follow you because of the dragon blood and _he_ knew who you were and he refused it. Shin-ah didn't know about the dragons and…"

 

"And Kija was raised with it and fell over himself to follow Hiryuu," she sighed. "The entire village turned out to see me. I feel like I'm still lying to them and…." Her voice grew quieter and Yun leaned closer to hear her better. "I don't want to disappoint any of them and especially Zeno." She pulled her hand away and sat up, wrapping her arms around herself. "He said he's waited thousands of years for his king. I… I know he said that I don't have to do what Hiryuu did, but I also… I also don't want him to leave because I didn't … didn't live up to his hopes."

 

"Are you wondering why he waited so long to see you?" Yun asked, sitting up as well and edging closer to wrap an arm around her. She had clearly been thinking about this for awhile. It wasn’t just happenstance that they found Zeno that day; he had been following their progress for months.

 

"He said he was testing me," Yona wrinkled her nose. "He must have been the most shocked to find his king to be a princess—one that didn't even know there were problems in the kingdom or why… why there were no more priests." Her voice grew soft and Yun knew she was thinking how Yun scolded her over her ignorance.

 

Yun sighed and shook his head. "I think he was very happy," he said honestly, hugging her tighter. It was astonishing to him that she had doubts about it. "You don't notice how the idiot looks at you sometimes, when you're not looking. I don't think he's disappointed at all. He'd said how proud he is, you know."

 

"He still took so long…" she whispered. "I keep on trying to get stronger and stronger every day." she leaned against him, not seeing the blush that warmed his cheeks. "I want to be worthy to earn their respect. Not just because of the dragon bond, but because we can be equal."

Yun privately thought that the beasts would never let it get that far; whether it was the dragon blood or not, they practically tripped over themselves to make sure that she was safe and protected. She was tough and threw herself into danger far more often than even Yun liked, but she was still more fragile than she was.

 

"I don't think it's because of who you were before you came to our home, Yona." Yun sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I think… and this is just because I know how that idiot priest is and I don't think Zeno's far off from that, that he's been alone too long." He took a deep breath. "He said he was testing you and all and that might have been part of it, but he was also probably uncertain to come into your life. He's probably been _beside_ you for a long time, even before you left the palace."

 

Yona blinked at that, considering his words. Zeno had said he had watched her and Hak run from the palace, but that meant he had to have been there in the first place. If he hadn't given up after sixteen years…then maybe he hadn't been disappointed in her.

 

"Is it still just the dragon blood, though?" she fretted. Even more so, then—Zeno…

 

"And if it was that way at the beginning?" he countered. "Don't you think that all of you, including Zeno, have moved past that point?" He poked her in her side. "If it was that way at the beginning, that's all that was. I think that your idiots are more than just legends from an old story."

 

Her lips turned up faintly at his no-nonsense tone. "And the fact that I'm supposed to be a character in that long-dead story?" she teased. It seemed her melancholy had mostly passed and Yun breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Yun," she murmured, turning to kiss him on the cheek. "It means a lot to hear you say that."

 

He huffed and crossed his arms against his chest, cheeks flaring with more heat than before. "It's true," he muttered. "You're Yona and not some long-ago king. The idiots follow you on their own terms, not just because of a promise that they didn't even make."

 

_Except Zeno_ , but neither one of them voiced that out loud. Zeno had his own reasons and if Zeno followed her, even before she had demonstrated any inkling of being like Hiryuu, then perhaps it was fine.

 

She had time to learn what it actually meant to hold that connection to a long-ago past and more than enough time to look towards what that meant for the future as well.

 

 

 


End file.
